


The Coffee Shop AU

by silver_elysium



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 23:15:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11542455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_elysium/pseuds/silver_elysium
Summary: Set in an AU where neither Tessa or Scott are skaters, but meet in a very cliche situation with her working as a barista :)





	The Coffee Shop AU

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought, as I am only starting out writing TS, I'd love to know how I can improve in the future :)

It was just past ten o’clock on a beautiful summer day in Toronto. A green-eyed barista had her hair down in beautiful waves that came naturally to her, and wore a Hall & Oates t-shirt under her apron. It was a relatively busy morning, but it had been worse. 

“Tessa, could you make a capuccino for me?” she was addressed by her boss, an auburn-haired hipster in his early thirties, called Michael, from the other end of the coffee shop. He was the manager here.

As she was making the drink, she saw with the corner of her eye, but rather felt than saw, that a man had come in. She noticed his presence particularly because she had been noticing him every time he came since he started coming here about a month ago. His dark brown, slightly long hair curled beautifully and he had the most charming smile.

She stared at her manager’s capuccino’s progress like it was the most important and meticulous task anyone was ever assigned. When it was done she had to serve a young girl but saw that the man that caused her nervousness was next in her queue. When he stepped forward, he smiled at her and she returned it.  
“One large Americano for Scott, please.” he said with the same kind smile on his face. “I know your name by now.” she thought.  
As she turned around and neared the coffee machine, she could feel his eyes on her back. She started biting her lips thinking the drink could not possibly take any slower. She added a little smiley face next to his name and gave him the cup. He paid and when he went to sit at the table right in front of the counter, she noticed he had tipped a 100%.

A little while later, Tessa saw the customer, whose presence right in front of her, reading something on his laptop, had kept her more conscious and alert than she usually was, stand up and walk to her counter. He looked her in the eyes and failed to say anything for a moment, but started, only to stutter something, asking for a juice bottle. Then, seemingly in a hurry, he collected his things and left abruptly. Again having tipped 100% of the cost of the juice. 

———

It had been a rainy Monday morning dealing with things relative to the degree he was working towards and Scott’s start to the day could not have been any less enjoyable. He hadn’t slept much the night before either and the weather just made him more miserable.  
He entered the coffee shop he had been coming to for some six weeks now, where one of the baristas had beautiful green eyes and a bright smile. He always tipped her just a little extra and joked in his mind about raised blood pressure from drinking too much coffee in one sitting when he ordered more coffee just to have a reason to hang around the shop for just a little while longer. One time, he had to make it look like he’d just had his mind elsewhere when her colleague pointed out to him that he was available and Scott did not have to queue at the other counter. Scott had to pretend like he was thrilled to have his coffee made as soon as possible.

Scott entered the coffee shop in hopes it was her shift, and he was in luck. The barista smiled at him as she saw him and gave him another smile, this one with a glimpse of pity, as she said “You’re soaking wet! You must be really cold, I can get a blanket for you!” He shook his wet hair and answered “It’s nothing, don’t bother,” he’d been coming here for enough time to know her name at this point, “Tessa.” He then ordered his coffee and Tessa told him that he could sit down and his coffee would be soon brought to him.

She really did feel sorry for him, as it was pouring from the sky and she also did not want him to get a cold and be absent for a week. They had started having some small talk at the counter lately, which included occasional flirting and she felt herself liking him more every time they talked. She was in a really good mood today and feeling somewhat bolder than usual as a result. She considered for a little while, and while her courage was high, jotted down her number under Scott’s name on the cup. Tessa took the drink and got a blanket from the basket that was for the customers. She came up from behind, placed the cup on the table Scott was sitting by, so that he could not see what she had written, not just yet, not when I’m standing next to him, she thought, and put the blanket over his shoulders. Had she not been standing behind him, she might have seen his eyes close for a brief moment, but the quiet sigh he let out was satisfaction enough for her. He turned around to politely thank for her troubles getting him warm, with something like “Thank you, but you really didn’t have to do it.” to which she replied something among the lines of “It’s my pleasure!” This Monday just got a lot better for him.

—————

Scott was finishing up his drink by the time he noticed a line rather longer than his name written on his cup. His eyes widened when the realisation crept up on him. Was it really her number? He felt warmer already, either from the blanket around his shoulders or the coffee going down his esophagus, or the interaction with the cute barista.

He looked around and saw her finishing up with a customer. He took out his phone and texted the number from his cup: “Would you like to have a cup of coffee with me sometime? Maybe today, after your shift?” Scott saw out of the corner of his eye that she took out her phone. He just sat anxiously waiting, forgetting his conviction that he needed to look occupied with anything on his phone or computer whenever he was hanging at the coffee shop. His phone buzzed. Unconsciously holding his breath, Scott opened the response. “My shift ends in three hours though.”

Tessa was looking at him from the counter, not knowing what to expect after her message. When her phone lit up, so did her face, because his text said “I can be back in three hours then?” As she was typing an enthusiastic “Yes!” which, to be fair, was a lot less enthusiastic than the one she had exclaimed in her head a couple of times, someone approached the counter. It was Scott with a question on his face. She answered his non-verbal question with a very bright smile and a vigorous nod. He gave her the blanket, neatly folded, and thanked: “I am actually a lot warmer now, thank you.”

He turned around and walked through the door, empty cup still in his hand, she noted, and before she could remove her eyes from the spot she last saw him in, mind occupied, her phone buzzed, with the words “6 o’clock then?” on the screen. She smiled contentedly and replied with the “Yes!” she had typed earlier.

———

Anxious for her six o’clock meeting, Tessa refreshed her mascara and put on some more lip balm during her toilet break. She was done with her shift at six on the dot and had just taken her apron off when she saw him come in. He’d brought an umbrella. As she left the counter, he came up close to her and said “Maybe you’d prefer to go somewhere you don’t work?” as if he was reading her mind.

They were walking Eastward, him holding the umbrella for her, she giggled: “You know I don’t like the idea of you getting wet and cold in this rain, I think there’s enough room here for two!” He smiled and offered her his arm that she gladly held on to.

They settled on a cosy bookshop—hyphen—coffee shop a couple of blocks from Tessa’s work. With their orders, his coffee and her latte and a piece of chocolate cheesecake (she hadn’t eaten lunch!) they sat down by a table in the back of the shop. He made subtle jokes, they were good jokes, but she would have probably laughed at anything. He smiled at her with a warmth that reached his eyes, and they chatted and flirted for almost two hours, one of the instances of the latter occurring when a strand of hair escaped her ponytail and he made sure it did not get in her face, or when she asked if it was very troublesome for him, having to wait three hours for her shift to be over and come back to her work? “No, I still had something to finish up at school and then went to the gym — it’s all very convenient with everything, including your work, being in the same neighbourhood. That’s the reason I wandered in the first time!” 

“Gym? Yeah, I can tell” she smirked checking out the way his shirt sat on his torso and shoulders. She even almost missed his telling her it was not the good coffee or the nice interior he kept coming back for, admiring him. “Wait, the first time? Wouldn’t that be why you always come?” 

“Well, that, too,” smiled he.


End file.
